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Fargo-Moorhead piles up 5.2 inches of snow

FARGO – The Fargo-Moorhead area ended up with more than 5.2 inches of snow Sunday, as the heaviest band of snow in a storm moving through the region dropped farther south than expected, WDAY-TV and National Weather Service meteorologists said.

That nearly doubled the metro area’s snowfall for the winter, said Rob Kupec of WDAY. Through Saturday, the area had gotten just over 5 inches of snow, he said.

The Minnesota State Patrol reported two multi-vehicle accidents on Interstate 94 Sunday morning – one just east of Rothsay and the other a couple miles east of Moorhead – though the injuries in each were either not life-threatening or minor.

Today will be blustery, with north and northwest winds of 15 to 25 mph causing drifting in open areas and possibly glazing east-west roads, forecasters said.

Fargo-Moorhead should see a high of 17 degrees, with a low overnight into Tuesday of 4 degrees below zero, the Weather Service forecasts.

By 7 p.m. Sunday, the snow was tapering off in North Dakota as the storm slid into Minnesota, Kupec said.

In North Dakota, Wahpeton reported about 3 inches; Valley City had 2 inches. The Grand Forks airport had 0.5 inch, John Hoppes of the Weather Service said.

In Minnesota, snow was still falling, but Bagley and Parkers Prairie had 2 inches, and Fergus Falls and Detroit Lakes had 1 inch each, Hoppes said.

Fargo had six vehicle accidents reported by 4:30 p.m. One of them was a vehicle hit-and-run with a bicyclist. The cyclist declined medical help, police Sgt. Carlos Nestler said.

“The roads are slippery. We are lucky it’s a Sunday not a Monday,” Nestler said.

Hoppes said some light snow is expected today in Minnesota.

Tuesday’s high in Fargo-Moorhead is expected to be 26 under partly cloudy skies, the Weather Service predicts. Wednesday and Thursday will see highs in the low 30s. There is a 20 percent chance of snow Wednesday.

Friday is expected to have a sunny high of 29 degrees. Saturday will also be sunny, but the high will drop to 21 degrees, the Weather Service predicts.